It's a packed night at the Raggalds Inn. The car park, on the windswept moors above Queensbury, is choc-a-bloc. Inside, everyone's eyes are glued to the stage, where Darren Rivers is under the spotlight, belting out songs.

But they are not just any songs - they are Elvis hits...and the 23-year-old certainly does them justice. "Close your eyes and it's The King himself," says one man, clearly enjoying the performance.

Not that Darren is a disappointment visually - with his white bejewelled suit and thick black hair he not only sounds like Elvis, he looks like him too.

"He's brilliant," says another fan, "He's absolutely knockout." In fact, the Elvis impersonator is so good that he has a regular following of more than 30 people, two-thirds of them lovestruck young women, who go to every show, no matter where it is.

Darren thinks nothing of leaping up on stage to perform in front of hundreds of people. Yet only three years ago he was shy and retiring, and far too nervous to join his mates in the pub for a spot of karaoke or ask a girl out.

He recalls: "I didn't like anything like that. I never wanted to be the centre of attention and the thought of doing something like singing in public was horrible, I just wouldn't have wanted to do it."

The former pupil of Rhodesway Upper School, who helped his parents run Bradford Snooker Club in Barry Street, would have remained in the background had he not had one too many on a night out.

"I was with my mates and we'd gone to The Star in the city centre. They were doing karaoke. and an Elvis number, Teddy Bear, came up. I had always been quite a fan, but I had never sung any hits. Anyway, I'd had too much to drink and got up."

He could not have predicted the response. He recalls: "After I'd done it people were asking me to do a few more and they all said how much I sounded like him."

Darren did not know it at the time, but that night was to change his life. Beating his nerves, he began singing regularly at pub karaoke nights. He says: "I've never had much confidence. I thought I'd be really nervous but when I got up and started singing Elvis songs I felt fine."

He attracted a lot of attention. "Strangers used to come up and ask if I was professional, and I'd say no. They would always be surprised. People seemed to really like hearing me."

Then, one day at his home in Thornton, he surprised his mother. "We have a stereo with a karaoke function and I was singing along to Elvis. My mum heard it and thought I hadn't turned the tape off. She was so amazed to find that it actually was me that she rang my dad at work and held out the phone for him to hear.

"I had told them about me singing in pubs but they had just laughed and not taken it seriously."

Darren's parents were so bowled over that they lined him up to sing before relatives at Christmas. "It was embarrassing," says Darren, "In front of all my uncles and aunts. But I did it." He sang In the Ghetto and American Trilogy, and impressed his aunt Lynn Cooper so much that she touted around a home-made demo tape and secured Darren's first pub gig at The Kings in Great Horton.

Says Darren, whose real surname is Hayward, but took the stage name Rivers from the character Elvis plays in the film Loving You: "I was nervous before I went and it was packed but as soon as I started singing my nerves vanished. I felt brilliant."

And his confidence grew. "I was shy before and could never have seen myself doing anything like this. But when I'm up there I forget everything. It's made me a lot more confident generally, in speaking to people and in life generally - my family all say they have noticed a change in me."

His mum, Jean, adds: "He's definitely not shy now. Before he was not outgoing at all and was shy with women. But he's got so much more confidence, he's a different person. The attention gives him a buzz. He's still single but we hope he'll find a nice girl from all his followers.

She added: "We were shocked when we heard him the first time - I'd heard karaoke before and thought he'd be average, but he really is good."

Darren advertised in entertainment magazines and had a CD made professionally at a recording studio. He is struggling to keep up with demand. He has performed across the North at gigs before up to 400 people, and has to fend off the advances of adoring female fans.

He says: "I've been propositioned a few times, but I laugh it off - I've never taken anyone up on it. I'm still available."

He has spent hundreds of pounds on dazzling Elvis suits, and six months ago had his hair dyed black to look even more like The King.

Darren's talent has also benefited his old schoolchum, Mark Gedney, 23, who is the man behind the lights, sound and entertainment when Darren is not on stage. Says Mark: "I'd known Darren for years and he was quite shy and retiring too. Now you can't stop him."

The pair are preparing to jet off to Tenerife to promote Darren's popular show Tribute to Elvis, and hopefully get bookings to work on the island in the summer. Until then, they have dozens of bookings to fulfil throughout West Yorkshire.

Says Darren "I'd never have believed I'd work as a singer. But it's the best thing that's ever happened to me."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.